The Criminal Law Convention on Corruption CETS No: 173 and the Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption is a instrument aiming at the co-ordinated criminalisation of a large number of corrupt practices. It was open for signature in Strasbourg, on 27 January 1999, for the member States of Europe and also the non-members. [1]It is the Council of Europe´s convention and additional protocol, which forms an important part of the work against corruption and aims to strengthen the international cooperation in the fight against corruption. By ratifying the convention the member states undertake to coordinate the criminalization of corruption and international co-operative fight against corruption.[2] The conventions implementation is monitored by GRECO (Group of States against Corruption) which started functioning on 1 of May 1999.
It stands for a common criminal policy aimed at the protection of society against corruption, including the adoption of appropriate legislation and preventive measures. The Convention works as a complementary to existing regulation.
The Convention wants to underline that corruption threatens the rule of law, human rights and democracy, it also undermines good governance, fairness and social justice. Furthermore it distorts competition, makes economic development more difficult and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral foundations of society. Members are required to give sanction and take effective measures in case that someone will brake against regulations. The Convention also states that legal entities are liable for offenses that they have done, this will lead to criminal or non-criminal sanctions. [3]
The Council of Europe has gotten praise for their work in against corruption, especially in eastern and central European countries. But also it has been stressed that overlap of regional conventions has to be eliminated by clearly dividing responsibilities. [4]
Corruption behavior that the Convention covers
The Convention covers eight different areas of corruption;
active and passive bribery of domestic and foreign public officials active and passive bribery of national and foreign parliamentarians and of members of international parliamentary assemblies active and passive bribery in the private sector; active and passive bribery of international civil servants; active and passive bribery of domestic, foreign and international judges and officials of international courts; active and passive trading in influence; money-laundering of proceeds from corruption offences; accounting offences (invoices, accounting documents, etc.) connected with corruption offences. [5]
The Convention also covers the area of corporate liability. It ensures that legal persons also can be held responsible for criminal offenses of bribery, trading in influence or money laundering. [6]
The Additional Protocol
By signing the Convention the member states similarly bind themselves to following the Additional Protocol. It is meant to be read together with the Convention. It has 14 additional articles about bribery and corruption regulations. Like the Convention the Protocol includes statements of both foreign and domestic persons that should hold some of the current assignments. When they state foreign it does not matter which nationality this person has the important aspect is that the arbitrator exercises in an other country than the prosecution. The Additional protocol is meant to be read together with the Convention, because it often refers to the Convention itself.[7]
The Convention and Finland
Finland has signed the Convention and the Additional Protocol. Finlands existing legal regulations where seen to fulfill all the requirements of the Convention and no changes had to be made to the Finnish legislation.[8] In 2013 an evaluation of Finland´s commitment to the Convention was made, the verdict was that Finland has a effective system for preventing corruption but there is still room for improvement. The area that was lacking is conflict of interest among parlamentarians. The next evaluation will be conducted in 2015. [9]
Ulkoasiainministeriö Kehitysyhteistyosasto, Korruption vastaisen toiminnan käsikirja, 25.3.2002 Available at:
file:///C:/Users/Emm/Downloads/KORRUPT2.pdf
Table of Contents
It stands for a common criminal policy aimed at the protection of society against corruption, including the adoption of appropriate legislation and preventive measures. The Convention works as a complementary to existing regulation.
The Convention wants to underline that corruption threatens the rule of law, human rights and democracy, it also undermines good governance, fairness and social justice. Furthermore it distorts competition, makes economic development more difficult and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral foundations of society. Members are required to give sanction and take effective measures in case that someone will brake against regulations. The Convention also states that legal entities are liable for offenses that they have done, this will lead to criminal or non-criminal sanctions. [3]
The Council of Europe has gotten praise for their work in against corruption, especially in eastern and central European countries. But also it has been stressed that overlap of regional conventions has to be eliminated by clearly dividing responsibilities. [4]
Corruption behavior that the Convention covers
The Convention covers eight different areas of corruption;active and passive bribery of domestic and foreign public officials
active and passive bribery of national and foreign parliamentarians and of members of international parliamentary assemblies
active and passive bribery in the private sector;
active and passive bribery of international civil servants;
active and passive bribery of domestic, foreign and international judges and officials of international courts;
active and passive trading in influence;
money-laundering of proceeds from corruption offences;
accounting offences (invoices, accounting documents, etc.) connected with corruption offences. [5]
The Convention also covers the area of corporate liability. It ensures that legal persons also can be held responsible for criminal offenses of bribery, trading in influence or money laundering. [6]
The Additional Protocol
By signing the Convention the member states similarly bind themselves to following the Additional Protocol. It is meant to be read together with the Convention. It has 14 additional articles about bribery and corruption regulations. Like the Convention the Protocol includes statements of both foreign and domestic persons that should hold some of the current assignments. When they state foreign it does not matter which nationality this person has the important aspect is that the arbitrator exercises in an other country than the prosecution. The Additional protocol is meant to be read together with the Convention, because it often refers to the Convention itself.[7]The Convention and Finland
Finland has signed the Convention and the Additional Protocol. Finlands existing legal regulations where seen to fulfill all the requirements of the Convention and no changes had to be made to the Finnish legislation.[8] In 2013 an evaluation of Finland´s commitment to the Convention was made, the verdict was that Finland has a effective system for preventing corruption but there is still room for improvement. The area that was lacking is conflict of interest among parlamentarians. The next evaluation will be conducted in 2015. [9]Available at: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/01/14/76/bf6d5a7f.pdf
Council of Europe, Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Available at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Summaries/Html/173.htm
Council of Europe, Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Threaties, Available at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/treaties/html/173.htm
Forreign Affairs USA, Long War Aggainst Corruption, Ben W. Heineman, Jr., and Fritz Heimann, May/June 2006 Available at:
http://viet-studies.info/kinhte/War_against_Corruption_FA.pdf
Council of Europe, Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Treaties, Available at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/treaties/html/173.htm
Council of Europe, Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, Treaties, Available at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/treaties/html/173.htm
Sverge Regeringens proposition, Europarådets straffrättsliga konvention om korruption, m.m. 26.2.204
Available at: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/01/14/76/bf6d5a7f.pdf
Ulkoasiainministeriö Kehitysyhteistyosasto, Korruption vastaisen toiminnan käsikirja, 25.3.2002 Available at:
file:///C:/Users/Emm/Downloads/KORRUPT2.pdf
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/greco/news/News(20130327)Eval4Finland_en.asp